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Lots of Gold on Dry Lands End

With Easter so late this year Clerk of
the Course Bill Rosten caught the nice weather for his first event. With
only subtle changes the event ran smoothly although enforcement of the
timing regulations caught out a few established competitors.

Nigel Hilling paws the air in Stan on the way
to the Class Two award (Picture by Dave
Cook)

James Turner in his rare Reliant Rebel on Bishops Wood
(Picture by Dave Cook)

The late
Hans Viertel successfully restarting on his way to a Triple (Picture
by Dave Cook)

Julian Dommett in fine style on VBluehills in his Dellow
(Picture by Stephen Maddalena)

Kevin Sharp in his Suzuki X90 on Bluehills 2 (Picture by
Stephen Maddalena)

Plusha was definitely the place
to start on this years event, with 96 cars, nearly two thirds of the
entry, choosing the first starting point, many of the more northerly
competitors choosing to trailer down to the West Country. It wasn't long
before they were on their way back up the A30 for the night run to the
Bridgwater accumulation control where Dean Vowden lost his Class Six award
when he was penalised for late arrival.

Penalties
at Felons Oak and Crook Horn

The first section was the
familiar Felons Oak, a nice opener, but the last section on this years
event for the venerable Courtney Yandle, who retired his Class Six Beetle
after stopping here.

The Crook Horn Special Test was
very disappointing for John Wilton in, or should I say on, his Trojan,
penalised ORL and loosing his Gold. No such mistake by Nigel Hilling who
went on to the Class Two Award, returning to trials after a years enforced
break in his 100E engined upright Ford Anglia. Roger Vanstone (Suzuki X90)
was another to loose his Gold here. A couple of competitors were penalised
for stopping at the flying finish line, including the father and son duo
of Peter and James Mountain in their Mk1 Dellow.

Time
Issues at Barbrook

A trip over the wilds of Exmoor
preceded a holding control at County Gate to regulate arrival at Barbrook
where there was a penalty for early arrival. A number of competitors fell
foul of this, including Lee Peck in his his Kracken. This was unfortunate
as Lee would otherwise have won Gold, which would have been a great ad for
the Kracken which he has put into production.

Neither Beggars nor the other
sections before the Wilsey Down rest halt caused problems for most
although Darracott was cancelled after Ivan Sharrock had the misfortune to
turn over in his HRG, the good news was the crew were OK.

Warleggan
Restart wasn't easy

Warleggan came after the break.
The higher classes had to restart and this took its toll on the medals,
either for not pulling away or in the case of Steve Glasson and Linden
Alcock who were penalised for not stopping in their Dellow Mk2's. None of
the three German crews got this far which was a shame considering all the
way they had come.

Into Cardinham Woods and Lady
Vale which had a restart with a very narrow box, where Paul Brooks lost
his gold in his X90. Hoskin was next, in the same complex, with different
restarts according to class. These boxes were narrow as well but the
marshals must have been lenient as they didn't record as many fails as was
feared.

Bishops
Wood

The Bishops Wood test saw Dave
Wall loose his gold when he over ran the line as did Trevor Wood in his
Suzuki powered Leige.

The Bishops Wood section was
just up the track, with a restart after the cross track for the higher
clases and just before for the lower category cars. This wasn't a problem
for most but Ian Musgrove in his X90 said goodbye to his gold here. The
higher class restart was definitely not Marlin friendly, confirmed by
Harry Bounden who lost his gold when he was judged not to have got away.

Blue
Hills

Only the two sections at Blue
Hills remained where neither Nick Farmer or Neal Vile could cope with the
tight corner in their UVA Fugitives, nor could Mike Tucker's X 90. BH2 had
its usual big crowd enjoying the spectacle and saw a handful of
competitors loose their golds.

All that remained was the 19
mile run back up the A30 to the finish where a handful of competitors were
penalised for late arrival.